Celebrities stand up in vans and poke holes in gowns to make bustles to arrive unruffled for the walk up 28 steps

Priyanka Chopra’s Ralph Lauren Collection custom trench coat evening gown was so big, with its 8-foot-long train, that a mere limousine just wouldn’t do. The star of TV’s “Quantico” instead had to take a Mercedes van, and stand up on the half-mile ride from the Carlyle Hotel to Monday night’s Met Gala so as not to rumple it. Later on inside, she removed the train.

She and others among more than 550 A-list celebrities went to creative lengths to make sure they and their avant-garde finery arrived on the red carpet...